All's Fair in War and Politics
by Light of the Dawn
Summary: When a trading ship is attacked by vikings off the coast of Scotland, the Clans must band together once more to drive out the invaders. However, the Scots are unprepared for the Vikings' new weapons - dragons. Can a forbidden friendship save the Scots and the Vikings before they completely destroy one another? Some Hicstrid & MeriGuffin, but mainly Mericcup (Merida x Hiccup).
1. Declarations of War

**Inspired by my current obsession: Mericcup aka Merida & Hiccup.**

**I do not own Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks.**

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**CHAPTER 1**

Returning from a ride through the glen, Merida caught her mother's eye as she walked into the room and remembered to hang her bow over the back of her chair rather than placing it on the table. After the whole bear incident, Merida and Elinor had both been trying to make changes, such as Merida trying to remember not to place her bow on the table, and Elinor had stopped complaining that her daughter had a weapon in the first place.

Taking a seat at the table, Merida helped herself to some dinner. Maudie chose that moment to enter the hall, carrying a tray.

"Letter from the Clan MacGuffin." Maudie announced.

"That'll be for me then." Merida said, rising from her seat and making her way around the table to pluck the letter from the tray before it reached her mother. The queen smiled at her daughter, sure that when she was ready to marry, Merida would choose Lord MacGuffin's son as her groom. Of her three suitors, it was young MacGuffin who wrote Merida the most, and she was always quick to reply.

The redhead turned over the letter to open it, and the expression on her faced changed from a pleased grin to disappointment. "Mum, it's the lord's seal. I think it's fer you." With a sigh, she handed the envelope to the queen.

"I'm sure he'll write soon, lady." Maudie said with a curtsy before scurrying from the hall.

"Aye." Merida said, her voice having lost the tone of excitement it had held only moments before. She dropped into her seat with a thud and picked up a chicken leg from the nearest platter. Taking a bite, Merida glanced sidelong at her mother, to see that Elinor's brow was furrowed. "What's the matter?"

"The invaders have returned." Elinor said, glancing past Merida to her husband, Fergus, who sat at the other end of the table with a chick leg in each hand. "They attacked and sunk a trading ship just off the coast of Fief MacGuffin."

The family fell silent, and everyone looked to Elinor, whose gaze was locked with her husband's. "They're sending out a fleet to strike back, and he's asked for our support – they want us to send troops."

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"Hiccup!" Astrid's voice woke the viking boy from his slumber. Opening his eyes, he found that Astrid was in his bedroom.

"Morning Astrid." Hiccup greeted his girlfriend with a smile as he propped himself up on an elbow. But instead of giving him a kiss and engaging in some early morning flirting, Astrid threw something on his bed and left in a hurry. Hiccup glanced at the leather, iron and furs that lay in a heap on his bed – his armour.

His heart beating faster, he swung his legs over the side of his bed and pulled on his clothes at top speed before hurrying outside as fast as he could with only one flesh and blood leg. Sure, he had a metal prosthetic, but even after having had it for a few years, he still couldn't move as quickly as he once might have.

When he found that it wasn't even dawn yet, Hiccup felt cold dread in his stomach. Toothless leaped down from his perch on the roof, and Hiccup mounted the dragon and flew after Astrid. "Astrid, what's going on?"

"Stoick's back." Astrid said simply, hurrying into the great hall. Hiccup dismounted Toothless and hurried after her.

Pushing through the doors into the great hall, Hiccup paused when he saw his father seated with two other men, all three looking worn and defeated. Part of Stoick's beard seemed to have been singed off, and one of the men had a bloodied cloth tied tightly around his arm.

"Dad, what happened?" Hiccup asked in alarm as he hurried towards his father. "Rogue dragons? The riders and I can drive them-"

Hiccup fell silent mid-sentence when Stoick held up a hand. "Worse than dragons, son."

"Outcasts?" Astrid supplied as Gobber crouched down by the third man and began trying to pry what looked like half an arrow shaft out of his leg.

"Even worse than outcasts." Stoick said. "Scots."

"Scots?" Hiccup repeated. "But why? I thought we were at peace with the Scots."

"Don't be daft, son." Stoick said. "Ye can't make peace with a Scotsman."

"Well, not-war then. I thought we were at not-war with the Scots."

"Not anymore." Astrid said softly to Hiccup as Stoick rose from his seat and limped into another room with his brother Spitelout, one of Berk's top warriors and the father of Snotlout, who would be next in line for the chiefdom of Berk if anything happened to Hiccup.

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"Ye'll be careful, won't ye?" Merida whispered to her father, as she pulled the Bear King into a close embrace.

"Aye, my darlin, I will." He told his daughter, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "And ye'll listen to yer mum, and do as she asks?"

"_Daaaaaad_." Merida complained.

"Fer me."

The redhead pouted, then sighed as she gave in. "Oh, aye, Ah will if Ah must."

And then she watched as her father turned away and made his way onto the ships. The king was taking a fleet up the coastline towards Fief MacGuffin to reinforce the Clan's claim to the rights of the land. Only that morning, they'd received another letter from Lord MacGuffin, informing them that a viking fleet had launched yet another attack.

The fleet that Lord MacGuffin had sent out in retaliation to the attack on the trading ship had returned with a lot of damage, and half of the fleet had been sunk in the battle that had ensued. But the vikings weren't finished yet, and had sent another fleet against the Scots.

Fief MacGuffin was gearing up to go to war, and just as they had two decades before, the clans would have to band together to drive out the invaders. Clan MacIntosh and Clan Dingwall had yet to respond to Lord MacGuffin's plea for assistance, but now that the king was pledging his forces to assist Lord MacGuffin, it was only a matter of time before they also arrived with their troops and their armoured ships.

"Good luck." Merida whispered as her father gave the command to raise the anchor and set sail.

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**And thus begins my first Mericcup story. I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update soon.**

**Let me know what you think!**


	2. The Will o' the Wisp

**Inspired by my current obsession: Mericcup aka Merida & Hiccup.**

**I do not own Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks.**

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**CHAPTER 2**

Hiccup didn't like it. Despite his having tamed a Night Fury and conquered a Red Death, his father still kept him from the action. Sure, he was allowed to be out and about while it was going on, but he was discouraged from participation.

But it wasn't his being kept from the battle that was bothering him. It was the fact that they were at war in the first place. His experiences with dragons had taught him that nothing happened without a reason. The dragons didn't attack because they were violent, but because they had been enslaved. The Outcasts sought revenge for being cast out. Hiccup found it hard to believe that the Scots would attack them unprovoked. Especially when they'd been co-existing quiet peacefully for the past two or so decades. Granted, their co-existence had been built on a mutual agreement to each pretend the other did not exist, but still, they had been at peace. He couldn't help feeling that something was amiss about the whole situation.

In this particular instance, he'd been somewhat pleased to have been sent ahead as a scout.

Dipping down out of the clouds, Toothless banked right and the duo flew lower, scanning the Highlands for any signs of life. Astrid, who'd argued her assignment as a scout until Stoick had told her she either started scouting or he'd send her home, now followed Toothless on Stormfly, a frown fixed on her pretty face as she banked left to do a full sweep of the countryside in the opposite direction.

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"Ach, Merida, will ye stop yer pacing?" The queen asked, giving her daughter an irritated look as the girl paced back and forth in the castle. "I'm sure yer lad's alright."

"Ach, mum, he's not _my lad_." Merida said, her cheeks flushing red at the mention of Lord MacGuffin's son. "And Ah'm not pacing from worry. Ah feel like a trapped animal, locked up in the castle all day! Are ye sure Ah can't convince ye to let me take Angus out fer a ride?"

"Merida, how many times must I tell you, the highlands are not safe for a princess while the land and sea are at war!"

"Ach, mum, all the fightin's at Fief MacGuffin anyways. The vikings won't have made it this far inland." Merida complained to the queen, dropping herself into the nearest chair with a loud thud and a bored sigh.

"Merida-"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease mum! Ah'll be careful, Ah promise! Ah'll take my bow and Ah'm only going to ride through the glen!" Merida begged, her hands clasped as she laid across the table, trying to convince her mother to let her do as she pleased.

Elinor turned her doe-brown eyes to her daughter, tipping her face forward to show her she wasn't impressed, then sighed. "Ye have an hour."

Merida jumped up from her seat with a squeal of delight and hugged her mother before she vanished in a flourish of skirts, grabbing her bow as she fled the castle, anxious to feel more than a thousand pounds of Clydesdale beneath her once more.

* * *

Hiccup murmured to his best friend and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder. The dragon warbled in response before he began his descent as his master had asked him. Hiccup watched the dragon's shadow race across the highlands as they approached the small clearing he'd spotted from above.

Perhaps he could find Astrid later, then the two of them could catch a few fish and have dinner together before they rejoined the rest of the tribe. He enjoyed spending one-on-one time with his girlfriend, and these days he didn't get a whole lot of it. Before, the Dragon Academy had consumed a great deal of both Hiccup's and Astrid's time. Sure, they both enjoyed working together but at the Dragon Academy, they were always surrounded by other people. There was no time for just Astrid and Hiccup the couple, only Astrid and Hiccup the leaders of the Dragon Academy and future rulers of Berk.

_The future rulers of Berk_, Hiccup thought with a tired sigh. Since he was nearly eighteen, Hiccup had begun to take over some of his father's responsibilities as the leader of the tribe. Sure, his father didn't let him fight in the battles, but he was run off of his feet – er, foot – as it was running the Dragon Academy and dealing with those of the villagers' problems that did not require the expertise of Stoick.

Every spare moment he had, Astrid was almost always too busy overseeing something or other – she took her role as the wife-to-be of the future chief of Berk very seriously. He hadn't even proposed to her yet. On that topic, he should probably do so as soon as he got the chance to speak to her again because he wasn't sure if he'd ever get the chance to do so again.

And if he didn't have Astrid's help to run Berk when it came his turn, he was going to fall apart. He needed her.

Of course, he did love her too. His feelings for the blonde warrior had always been strong, although it seemed lately he had no time to contemplate how much he loved her. Astrid was as busy if not more so than he was, so whenever he wasn't passed out – which was more often in his study than in his bed – he was usually working in the smithy with Gobber. The twins had made several crude jokes about him taking out the frustrations of his relationship in the smithy, much to Snotlout's amusement and Hiccup's ire.

At least he didn't have combat training on top of all the rest of it.

It wasn't that he didn't need additional training in combat – as lucky as he was to have him, Toothless wouldn't always be able to protect Hiccup – the fact of the matter was simply that there was never any time to give him any proper training.

And with this war to contend with, things were even busier.

Hiccup dreaded the day when he became Chief of the tribe. He just didn't know how his father coped with all his chief duties, especially by himself. Hiccup had Astrid, Stoick had been looking after the village alone since Hiccup was very young.

How on earth was he going to cope when his father retired and Hiccup was left to do it all on his own? He was struggling as it was when the duties were divided between three of them – what was he going to do when that number went down to two?

Rubbing his temples in an attempt to chase away the headache that the stressful thoughts of his future had caused, Hiccup closed his eyes. After a few deep breaths, Hiccup wondered if a drink of water would help his headache, and moved to the stream with his hands cupped.

The water was refreshing and after a few mouthfuls he felt slightly better. Lowering his cupped hands for some more, a flash of blue in the corner of his eye drew his attention to something along the riverbank.

Hiccup turned to see what it was and found a puzzling sight. There was a cloud of blue smoke before him.

No, it wasn't smoke. Smoke didn't glow.

And was that _giggling_? Smoke most certainly didn't giggle.

"Is someone there?" He called out, but nothing answered him. And as he drew closer to the glowing blue smoke-thing, he realized that the giggling sound was coming from the strange creature before him.

It was the most perplexing thing he'd ever seen in his life, and he couldn't help be drawn towards it. He might have been more cautious, but his curiosity told him to abandon all fear. He had to find out what that – that _thing_ was!

He reached out towards it, and just as he was about to touch it, it vanished with what he thought sounded like the squeal of a playful child.

And then he found someone pointing a weapon in his face. "Don't ye move a muscle."

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**And there's chapter two! Hope you liked it!**

**Reviews are love!**


	3. Strike First

**Inspired ****by ****my ****current ****obsession****: ****Mericcup ****aka ****Merida**** & ****Hiccup****.**

**I ****do ****not ****own ****Disney****/****Pixar ****or ****Dreamworks****.**

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**CHAPTER**** 3**

_Follow __the __Wisps__,_ they said,_they__'__ll __lead __you __to __your __fate__._

All the wisps had led her to was a viking. He hadn't noticed her, thankfully. Or so she thought. Ducking behind the nearest tree, she held her breath, hoping he hadn't heard the rustling of her skirts or crunch of brush underfoot as she'd hidden.

It was not to be, as only second later, the boy called out, asking if anyone was there.

Funny, he didn't sound as rough or hostile as one might expect from a viking. No matter, the princess of DunBroch wasn't about to be captured by a viking because regardless of whether or not he seemed it at a glance, he was still a savage. A savage whose people had attacked a Scottish trading ship completely unprovoked.

Before he got the chance to strike first, she plucked an arrow from her quiver and her expert fingers fitted it to her bowstring.

Pointing her arrow at the young man – he was older than a boy, she noticed, perhaps even about her age – she now realized he hadn't been calling out to her. He'd been talking to the wisp. But he'd notice her for sure if she fled now, and she'd certainly end up with a missing limb, so she raised herself up to her full height and spoke first.

"Don't ye move a muscle."

So, the rumours weren't true after all. They said that vikings were savage brutes who didn't feel fear, but the look on this one's face showed he was different - he was absolutely terrified of her. As he looked up into her icy blue eyes with a pleading look, she couldn't help noticing that he had eyes of an unusual colour – at least around DunBroch. They were green.

She didn't get the chance to even consider lowering her bow, because suddenly a beast as black as the night appeared out of nowhere and attacked her from the side. Her bow was thrust downwards, throwing off her aim. For the first time in years she missed her shot. The arrow fired into the earth with a dull thud.

Her heart had been racing before, but now it was pounding against her chest with such ferocity she thought it might burst. She trembled in fear of the creature that now pinned her beneath her very own bow as though it was a strap against her abdomen, wondering why it had attacked her and not the boy - he was the easier target, not her! The beast opened its massive jaws as though it was going to bite her face off, and unleashed its deafeningly loud roar. She couldn't hold back the scream of terror that escaped her lips at that moment, her hands releasing her bow and flying to cover her ears in a hurry.

"Toothless, no!" The creature's screech cut off immediately at the sound of the boy's voice. The massive creature suddenly backed off.

She gasped, desperately drawing air into her lungs. The beast no longer pinning her beneath her own bow, she pushed it aside and rubbed her abdomen with a grimace, wondering if it would bruise where the wooden part of the bow had been forced against her hips by the beast.

To her surprise, the boy had placed himself between her and the black beast now, both of his hands in front of him, palms towards it as though to calm it down - or to surrender. And most incredibly of all, it seemed to be working. The beast seemed to be _obeying_ him.

"Sorry about that. He's a bit protective." The viking boy apologized as he turned to face her now, offering the fiery-haired princess a hand up. Regarding him with a suspicious gaze, she accepted his hand and let him pull her to her feet.

"What are ye?" Merida asked, bending down to snatch her bow from the ground, because clearly this boy was not a viking. Not only did he feel fear, but he had also placed himself between her and the beast to protect her - no viking would do that. Then, to make things even more confusing, he had apologized and helped her up. He was certainly no viking savage. But then, who was he? He wasn't from around here, otherwise he'd be wearing a kilt instead of long trousers.

The black animal that had used her own bow against her snarled.

"I'm Hiccup." the boy said, before gesturing to the beast beside him. "And this is Toothless."

"Ah dinnae ask ye who ye were. Ah asked ye what ye were."

"Toothless is a dragon." he said with a sigh. "And I am his rider."

"Ye. . . ye have a dragon." Merida stated as though she didn't quite believe what she was hearing. "And it lets ye ride it."

"Uh, yeah, that's about it." Hiccup said with an uncomfortable nod. "So, I, uh, never got your name."

She ignored his question. "And is that _normal_ where ye come from?"

"It didn't used to be."

"And where is it that ye come from?"

"An island called Berk, you've probably never heard of it."

"Oh, aye, Ah've heard of it alright." Merida said, narrowing her eyes. "So ye're a viking after all."

Hiccup was not amused. "You know, you wouldn't believe how often I get that."

"Give me one good reason why I should not shoot ye, vikin' scum." Merida said, fitting another arrow to her bow. The dragon bared its teeth from behind the boy.

"Well, if that's what I get after saving you and offering you a hand up, I can't wait to meet the rest of the Scots." Hiccup deadpanned, waving his hand to quiet the dragon once more.

"Ye've got a lot of nerve, vikin'."

"Comes with the vest." He adjusted his fur waistcoat as he spoke. "More of a uniform, really."

"Ye think yer funny?" she demanded, raising the bow, and the dragon snarled, tensing as though it was about to spring at her again. "Yer the reason Ah've been cooped up in the castle for th' past two weeks!"

"Well, not me _specifically_."

"Ah've had about enough of yer cheek!" She snarled, drawing back her bow, causing the viking boy to flinch and pull his arms up over his head as though he thought his scrawny arms would protect him if she loosed an arrow.

"You know, if you shoot me, you're going to have a furious Night Fury on your hands." Hiccup said, as though he was pleading with her. "And my girlfriend can probably throw an axe as far as you can shoot that thing, and her dragon will shoot ten of those back at you."

As if on cue, Astrid's unmistakable voice broke through the tension and brought Merida's eyes to the skies. "HICCUP!"

"How many of ye are there?" Merida asked, drawing her bow back another half an inch, her attention returning to the green-eyed viking before her.

"Here? Just the two of us." Hiccup said. "Look, why don't we just pretend this whole thing never happened. I'll go my way and you go yours." She still didn't look convinced. "I'll try to convince the other vikings to stay closer to the coast, that we don't need to come this far inland."

"Why would ye do that?" Merida asked, suspicion and curiosity edging her tone, despite the glare on her face.

"Because I'm _different_. I befriended a dragon because I couldn't kill it. I'm not like the others." He said, turning to mount his dragon. She could have loosed her arrow at any time, but didn't.

"HICCUP!" Astrid's voice called out again.

Hiccup's eyes met Merida's, and she nodded, before she whirled and in a flourish of skirts, vanished into the woods. Within seconds he was in flight once more. "Astrid, over here!" He waved to his blonde girlfriend to catch her attention. Glancing down at the woods, he caught sight of the archer girl's fiery locks moving through the woods, and he tensed. Surely Astrid would see the redhead despite the leaf canopy. "Race you back!"

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**Reviews ****are ****love****!**


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